Meditation Hindrances and Breakthroughs: A Multilevel First-Person Phenomenological Analysis
T. Sparby, Philip Eilinghoff-ehlers, Nuri Lewandovski, Yannick Pachernegg, Luis Schnitzler, F. Edelhäuser
Religions July 18, 2024 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.3390/rel15070865 via Semantic Scholar
Summary
Meditation hindrances, traditionally seen as obstacles, can also serve as catalysts for breakthroughs. In a 6-day retreat with five participants, a multilevel phenomenological method captured how negative experiences during meditation may dissolve into positive outcomes. The study develops the concept of hindrances and shows that challenging effects can be part of a process leading to growth, offering a new perspective on adverse effects in meditation research.
Study at a glance
| Design | qualitative study |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 5 |
| Population | participants in a 6-day meditation retreat |
| Key finding | Meditation hindrances can be part of a process leading to breakthroughs where negative aspects dissolve into positive outcomes. |
Abstract
This article explores the topic of meditation hindrances and breakthroughs. In the traditional literature, meditation hindrances are seen as phenomena counteracting meditative activity. However, hindrances are also seen as grounds for meditative growth and breakthroughs. In current meditation research, there is an effort to understand negative effects, sometimes referred to as challenging, adverse, or harmful effects. Little is known about how people experience and deal with meditation hindrances, and especially how they experience the dissolution of hindrances (breakthroughs). The method applied to shed light on this is an innovative and multilevel phenomenological method, which includes biographical exploration, daily notetaking and reflection, and micro-phenomenology. The participants consisted of a group of five people, and the setting was a 6-day meditation retreat. We offer a new perspective on this research not only by developing the concept of meditation hindrances but also by suggesting and showing how negative effects may be part of a process leading up to a breakthrough, where the negative aspect dissolves, potentially giving rise to positive outcomes.